The Little Fruit Bat and the Big Bad Vampire Bat
by Schnickledooger
Summary: A retelling of Tokyo Babylon and Silverwing hashed together in an epic proportion. Epic meaning unbelievable. Subaru and Seishirou in the starring roles as bats. Yes, bats. Cuteness and angst runs rampant.
1. Part 1

**Disclaimer: **I do not own **Tokyo Babylon, X, or Tsubasa Chronicle**. CLAMP does. (Which I am sure countless people will be grateful for once they have finished this fic).

**Summary: **A retelling of Tokyo Babylon in an epic proportion. Epic meaning unbelievable. Subaru and Seishirou in the starring roles as bats. Yes, bats.

**The Little Fruit Bat and the Big Bad Vampire Bat **

Once upon a time there was a little fruit bat named Subaru who lived with his grandmother in a giant oak tree in the middle of a forest. Now being a fruit bat, Subaru was one of the smallest specimens of his kind, reaching only about 3 inches in length with his body; his wingspan alone measured about a foot in diameter. Subaru possessed shiny, velvety-black skin; large, rounded ears framed with fine tufts of fur; delicate, paper-thin, leathery wings with one pointed claw attached to each; and a short snub of button-nose centered right between his two, wide, emerald green eyes. He was what his older sibling, Hokuto, often described as "very adorable—a meal too cute for predators to eat and destroy; he would break hearts someday with that sweet face of his". Subaru would blush at this proclamation every time, turning his cheeks an ever darker color. However, Hokuto had flown from the roost earlier that year in search of other colonies, eager to be off on her next grand adventure; so now it was just Subaru to look after their grandmother, who, after many seasons, it seemed that age had finally caught up with.

Dear old Obaa-chan was ailing and could no longer fly long distances to forage for the juicy fruits and sweet nectar the fruit bats fed on, so Subaru was the one to bring her back food, crushed and stored in his cheek pouches. Before each of his nightly flights, his grandmother would always warn him.

"You must be careful, Subaru. Beware the owls, the snakes, the large felines, and above all—beware the traitorous, blood-thirsty assassin!"

"The blood-thirsty assassin, what kind of creature is this?" Subaru had asked the first time his grandmother had mentioned it, for although he recognized the other creatures' name, he had never heard of this new one.

"He is just how he is described," Obaa-chan had said, in her weak, raspy voice. "He wanders endlessly through the black skies, a lone, silent sentry, searching for his next victim. He feeds in a manner unnatural of any creature. He does not eat insects, nor grass, nor fruit, nor even the flesh of others. No, instead he does an altogether wretched and evil thing: he drinks their blood! Descending from on high, silent and swift, he strikes with a deadly ease and captures his prey, then he drains every last drop of blood from his victim and carries away the body deep within his cave, entombing the poor soul so it will never be at rest, forsaken to wander the earth for all eternity."

"Obaa-chan!" Subaru had gasped in fright, wishing hopefully that she was simply making up a terrible bone-chilling story like Hokuto used to do to scare him for fun. "That can't be true! No creature only lives on blood! Surely the blood-thirsty assassin is only a legend!"

"Be careful, my grandson," the old bat had repeated, coughing lightly into her wing. "Do not let yourself be taken astray by him. Those that do are all doomed."

Every night his grandmother warned him and every night Subaru tried his best to watch out for all manner of predators, those real and those not, while gathering food. However, one day his grandmother had overslept well into the evening and night had begun to fall. Subaru's heart went out for the old bat that had taken care of him and Hokuto since they were pups, whose parents had been devoured by owls. Obaa-chan was curled up tightly within her wings, hanging by her foot-claws in the hollow of the oak tree, huddled as far back into the darkness as she could get, small shivers racking her tiny frame. Subaru had decided he would go out and gather food for them and be back before she woke up. It would be a nice surprise!

So intense was the thought of pleasing his grandmother, Subaru forgot all her warnings and set out into the night, his mind filled only with the purpose of finding the biggest and best juiciest fruit there was and taking as much back to her as he could.

It was a warm night with a gentle breeze and dozens of fireflies decorating the landscape. Flitting among them, Subaru saw many of his cousins, other species of bats—those that ate insects, happily snapping the fireflies up, giggling in glee as the bugs tickled the inside of their bellies and caused them to glow . Normally, Subaru would have flown over to inquire if any of them had spoken to a fruit bat named Hokuto. It had been awhile since she had sent word of her whereabouts and Subaru was getting worried. However, the sight of the other bats eating the poor defenseless fireflies made Subaru sad, even though he knew insects were what his cousins survived on—still, the fireflies were alive and had a right to life also, didn't they? Subaru flew on, glad he was a fruit bat who didn't have to worry about taking other creatures' lives on a daily basis. He didn't think his conscience would allow him to do it.

The night wore on and Subaru continued his search for the best fruit to bring back to Obaa-chan. He wanted it to be special tonight, something she had not tasted for a long time. There were little patches of wild strawberry and blackberry bushes growing near the tree, but they ate that far too often. A little further into the forest, there were some nice apple trees, and sometimes, if he felt brave enough, Subaru would venture out of the forest into the valley below to sip up the nectar in the field of flowers that lay strewn out across the meadow like a patchwork quilt. Still, Subaru wasn't satisfied. He wanted to see Obaa-chan's eyes light up, for the age to melt away from her face and for her to smile in a way he hadn't seen since he and Hokuto were young.

Then Subaru remembered the plum orchard on the other side of the valley, a place he had never gone, and yet still could recall the sweet perfume of the plums as it wafted on the air downwind to him. But it was so far! Dare he actually fly the distance?

_An image of Obaa-chan's snout wrinkled back into a toothy smile, her eyes shining in delight as she feasted on the crushed pulp of the rare fruit… _

Subaru spread his wings wide and sailed through the air, his heart pounding excitedly in his chest as he swooped over the top of the forest, the valley-floor, then finally…the plum orchard appeared in his line of vision. The trees were feathered in an abundance of white snowy blossoms and near-drooping with the weight of their fruit: heavy, plump, purple plums, sweating their juices excessively, overripe and ready for picking, and the scent of it was heavenly.

The little fruit bat's mouth watered and he launched his body at the nearest tree and attached himself to the fruit with his fore-claws, eagerly sticking his snout in and lapping at the flow of juice that burst out. He took care of his own appetite first, filling his stomach so much that it bulged into a tight, roly-poly ball, then he stored as much of the fruit as he could into his pouch-cheeks until they resembled a chipmunk's face after stuffing itself with nuts. Then feeling wholly pleased and sated, Subaru threw himself into the air, wanting to get back home as soon as possible. Only he had underestimated just how much weight his fragile wings could carry, and so after a hearty meal, fell earth-bound immediately like a rock, with a startled squeak.

Subaru managed to catch the branch on the lower limbs of the tree with his foot-claws and simply hung there for a few seconds in shock, before pulling himself upright with his wings, where he perched, resting, his mind racing wildly as he realized he had overeaten and would not be able to fly for a while. The night was late now. Obaa-chan would no doubt be awake, wondering where he was. Did she think he had left her too… left her like Hokuto-chan had left them?

Subaru sniffled, feeling very foolish, and thus, began emitting a symphony of tiny hiccups in his distress, the carefully stored juice in his pouch-cheeks slipping out of his mouth in little dribbles.

There came soft laughter in the tree further up. Subaru lifted his head miserably and looked upwards through the branches, wondering if it was an owl and he was going to be eaten. He certainly deserved it, being so greedy. However what he saw was no bird of any kind, rather, it was by far the largest bat he had ever seen.

The bat roosted upside-down in one of the top-most tree-limbs, his long, curved foot-claws digging firmly into the bark. His fur was a rich dark brown and quite short. He had huge, long and pointed ears, and a long and narrow muzzle with an upturned snout like a horn. In the moonlight, there was a gleam of sharp pointy teeth as the bat smiled down at Subaru, watching him with narrowed, golden eyes.

Subaru shivered, not knowing why, but still could not help feeling amazed at the sight. Why even from this distance he could tell that this bat must be about three feet in size!

"You must eat an awful lot to be able to get that big," Subaru said, forgetting his grandmother's rule of never talking to strangers.

The larger bat blinked at this statement then smiled even wider at him, as if he were amused at something.

"You're a funny little one," he said. "Mind if I come down?"

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry. Am I in your tree? Are these your fruits?" Subaru questioned, ashamed.

The larger bat laughed again and let himself fall free from his perch, the wings that had wrapped around him flapping open and expanding outwards like a massive cape, reaching almost the length of one branch to the end of another on the other side of the trunk. The bat glided on the air, circling a few times, no doubt showing off, the moonlight shining off his gigantic wingspan, making him seem almost ethereal-like. At last, he settled down right next to Subaru, his weight causing the slender limb to sway up and down a few times before it found its balance.

Subaru gaped in awe at the creature next to him. The bat _was _around three feet tall. He felt rather dwarfed. Why, he would bet his whole body was smaller than the other bat's head!

"This is not my tree," the larger bat said, answering Subaru's last question. "I was merely resting when a little fruit bat swooped out of nowhere and dive-bombed face first into a plum."

Subaru blushed in embarrassment as he realized the larger bat must have seen the entire spectacle he had made of himself.

"I'm sorry I ruined your fruit! I didn't know—" he squeaked apologetically.

"Didn't you hear? This is not my tree and these are not my fruit. I don't eat _fruit_," the larger bat cut him off, smiling in a secretive manner.

"Do you have a name, little fruit bat?" the larger bat asked, before Subaru could think further on the last statement.

"Subaru," the little bat supplied, hoping the other wouldn't think him rude for not introducing himself earlier.

"Subaru," the larger bat said, his golden eyes glinting with intense interest as he spoke the name as if savoring the sound of it on his tongue. "My name is Seishirou."

"Seishirou…san," Subaru said, inclining his head in acknowledgement as Obaa-chan had taught him to do when greeting others.

"So polite!" Seishirou chuckled, a quick flash of his teeth showing. "You are full of surprises, Subaru-_kun_. Most creatures run away screaming when they see me."

"What? But why?" Subaru asked.

"I suppose it is my great size," Seishirou sighed in a mournful voice. "It tends to frighten others off."

"But that's not fair!" Subaru cried. "You haven't done anything to them! They should give you a chance. It's not right to hurt others' feelings!"

Seishirou looked at him inquisitively and Subaru shuddered under the full gaze of the larger bat, wondering if he had spoken out of place.

"You possess a great sympathy towards all things, don't you Subaru-kun?" Seishirou mused out loud, as if mulling something over. "And yet you are not afraid of me?"

"You are a bat, like myself, only bigger," Subaru stated happily, as if that explained everything.

"You are saying then, that bats need not fear other bats?" Seishirou inquired, smiling amused once again. "Ah, but bats are not the only ones who are afraid of me…but who can blame them when I have a visage as grotesque as this?"

The larger bat pointed at his face with one giant curved fore-claw, which Subaru had to admit did look a sight ghastly upon first glance, however…

"Creatures should not judge others based on appearances," Subaru said firmly.

Seishirou did a double take and looked at the little fruit bat in wonder, his eyes widening a bit before a mask dropped over them coolly.

"If these large, pointed ears are not for frightening, then what are they for?" Seishirou asked, suppressing a smirk.

"Why they let you hear things better!" Subaru exclaimed.

"And these eyes?" Seishirou pressed, locking his huge golden eyes upon the little fruit bat's own emerald ones in a transfixing gaze.

"They let you see things better!"

"This horrid muzzle," Seishirou spoke, bending low so he was snout to snout with Subaru, the larger bat's pointed horn nose, flaring wide his enormous nostrils, contrasting greatly with the smaller bat's round, button one.

"It lets you smell things better!"

"This mouthful of teeth!" Seishirou declared, stretching the skin of lips back sinisterly, exposing his long, razor sharp incisors in a wide, toothy grin.

"They…they let you _eat _things better," Subaru said in a more subdued voice than before, yet his eyes still retained their trust of the larger bat.

"_Indeed,"_ Seishirou whispered into the little fruit bat's fuzzy ear, provoking another shiver out of Subaru, before he pulled back.

"Tell me, Subaru-kun," Seishirou said, changing the subject. "What is such a little bat like yourself doing out here all alone? I thought you tiny ones liked to stay in groups."

"I…I came to get some plum juice for my grandmother, who's ill," Subaru admitted. "It's just Obaa-chan and me that's left of our colony. Hokuto, my sister, she left and our parents are dead."

"Such a sad tale. You must use caution then, Subaru-kun. There are many predators who would be eager to get their jaws around a nice tender morsel such as yourself, and then who would look after your poor obaa-chan?" Seishirou said wickedly.

"Obaa-chan is always warning me like that," Subaru said fondly. "Although…although sometimes I'm not sure if all she says is true. She…she tells me stories…"

There was silence and Subaru looked up at the larger bat to see Seishirou smiling, encouraging him to go on.

"Stories about creatures like the traitorous, blood-thirsty assassin!" Subaru finished breathlessly.

The plum branch bobbed up and down slightly as its larger occupant shifted his weight, edging even closer to the little fruit bat than before.

"And you do not believe your wise, old obaa-chan's tales?" Seishirou inquired in an odd tone of voice.

"No, well, that is…I don't see how any creature can exist like that," Subaru said floundering, trying to explain.

"What? Drinking blood?" Seishirou asked. "Does it disgust you then? This notion?"

"It's not that," Subaru said, struggling for the right words. "Creatures do what they need to survive…"

Seishirou blinked his golden eyes at the statement and tilted his head sideways as he contemplated the little fruit bat thoughtfully.

"It's just the other part of the story…" Subaru went on. "He's always alone…there's no mention of a family or friends, and he's always hunting. Doesn't he get tired? Isn't he lonely?"

There was laughter again from the larger bat and the branch swayed to and fro from the shaking of Seishirou's massive frame until he had regained control and smiled with mirth at his smaller companion.

"You are a strange one, Subaru-kun, to feel sorry for such a damned creature. You're either very kind-hearted or very foolish. Do you know why he is called the 'traitorous, blood-thirsty assassin'?" Seishirou questioned.

"Because he drinks blood and kills without warning, silent and swift," Subaru smoothly recited the lines from Obaa-chan's tale.

"Yes, but do you know why he is called 'traitorous' as well?" Seishirou inquired. "Because he spares not even those of his own kind and eats them as well!"

The little fruit bat's eyes widened with horror and he gasped, "Oh! That's not possible! No creature eats their own kind!"

"What tree have you been sheltered in, Subaru-kun? Do not the owls eat smaller birds? Do not the snakes devour the weaker ones of them? Why should this 'blood-thirsty assassin' be any different?" Seishirou demanded.

"But, but…" Subaru squeaked pitifully, trying to find sense in it all.

"Do you have any idea of what manner of creature this 'blood-thirsty assassin' may be?" Seishirou inquired, eyeing the little bat intently.

Subaru shook his tiny head, although his mind had conjured up images of some great-horned beast with a stinging tail, giant teeth and claws, and glaring red eyes.

Seishirou leaned closer to the smaller bat as he shared the next part in a hushed exuberant tone, "They say he is _bat_."

Subaru tried to find his voice and protest against such utter atrocity, such _blasphemy, _but no sounds emitted from his throat, which felt dry, as if an invisible claw had curled around it, had seized it, and held it fast.

"Yes, a bat," Seishirou repeated for emphasis. "That's why they call him 'traitorous.' You see, bats are supposed to be one of the few creatures in this harsh world that do not consume their fellow brethren. There is no need to prey amongst ourselves when we, above all others, have the keenest of senses to find food even where it seems desolate. But the blood-thirsty assassin cares not about these things. He yearns for warm flesh and the blood of bat most of all."

"But why?" Subaru whispered, a cold chill spreading through him. "_Why_ does he have to drink their blood? Why does he have to eat bat?"

"He doesn't _have _to, little fruit bat. He_ wants _to," Seishirou explained with an ardent furor. "You see, within the blood of all creatures flows their desires, their dreams, their memories past, all the things which make up the very core of their being. And the blood-thirsty assassin laps it all up—every last drop so that he sees who that creature was, how he lived, what he held dear, so he can taste and experience the pleasure of what pure, raw emotions feel like.

"He cannot feel, you see," Seishirou went on as if commenting about the weather. "Perhaps it is a defect from birth. Perhaps he is cursed. Who knows? What is true is that he wishes to discover all emotions in existence and learn how to use and act upon them."

Subaru didn't ask how Seishirou knew so much about the blood-thirsty assassin. Nor did he react when the larger bat reached out with one long, wicked-sharp, curved fore-claw to tilt his tiny chin and examine his glazed eyes and blank expression.

"And he prefers bats most of all, my dear Subaru-kun, because they are his closest of kin, and when he samples their blood, in this way for a short while, he can be complete and know what it is like to truly_ live_."

A gust of wind picked up into a strong gale and rustled the branches of the plum tree, stirring up the snowy-white petals of the blossoms into a swirling waltz, where they scattered upon the ground below in a soft echo of drifting snow. It was all but a faint murmuring in the little fruit bat's ears. Nothing mattered. Nothing mattered except to keep vigil upon Seishirou's two golden eyes of light drawing him deeply within their gaze, burning so bright yet so achingly hollow…

_Twin pinpricks of pain._

_Slight burst of panic._

_Controlled by a familiar presence…soothing relief…_

_The moon loomed in front of him…and everything shone silver…_

_There was no up or down…no sense of direction…_

_He was falling…couldn't fly…_

_And he was caught and held tight in death's sweet embrace…_

It was a rhythmic pounding assailing his ears that swept away the last vestiges of sleep and caused Subaru to wake. The little bat blinked his eyes blearily and shifted his head about to determine where the sound was coming from, his fore-claws scrambling to get a better grasp on the short fur residing beneath him.

Wait…_fur?_

"Did you dream beautiful dreams, little fruit bat?"

Subaru squeaked in mortification as he found himself completely enveloped and wrapped up quite snugly in Seishirou's giant wings like a cocoon so that he was resting against the broad chest of the larger bat, who hung upside-down from his roost in the tree.

"_S-S-Seishirou-san!" _Subaru cried, staining the ebony skin of his cheeks a glowing red as he blushed. "W-What…h-how…"

"I do believe you ate too much plum, Subaru-kun," Seishirou said merrily. "You simply toppled over and swooned right into my wings without any warning!"

"Oh, I'm s-sorry!" Subaru exclaimed, wishing he wasn't so clumsy.

"No need to be. I didn't mind at all. It's not everyday I get to play hero for a cute little bat such as yourself," Seishirou stated, squeezing his wings around Subaru in resemblance of a hug.

It was warm within the larger bat's wings and the heat was making Subaru grow drowsy, a strange kind of heat igniting his veins and coiling into a pool in the pit of his stomach.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, listening to the comforting sound of Seishirou's heartbeat resounding loudly in his ears as he lay nestled against the larger bat's chest. "That was rude of me to fall asleep when you were talking though."

"What do you last remember of our conversation, little fruit bat?" Seishirou asked, bending his head so he could nuzzle his horned snout upon his smaller companion's fuzzy head.

"You were telling me something about the traitorous, blood-thirsty assassin, but I can't seem to recall…" Subaru furrowed his brow, trying hard to see past the hazy mist that obscured his mind, threatening to cast everything into vague oblivion.

And there was an odd sort of throbbing in his neck…

"Daybreak is drawing near," Seishirou said, cutting him off, turning his gaze to the far end of the valley where the land dipped low between two hills and a pale shimmering reddish-orange finger was stretching up to the dark night sky, changing the black to a faded lavender-grey hue. "Here comes the dawn. You'd best get back home before the sun rises, Subaru-kun."

"I don't want to leave," Subaru stated stubbornly, digging his claws into the larger bat's fur in a firm grip, and burrowing himself deeper into the other's winged enfoldment.

"Oh my, but what a selfish little bat we are becoming!" Seishirou proclaimed, throwing his head back and laughing heartily, revealing his long, sharp fangs for an instant.

"I don't want to say goodbye," Subaru admitted, feeling as if he would be losing a friend if they parted ways. "When creatures say goodbye, they never see each other again."

Subaru shut his eyes and tried to ward off thoughts of Hokuto.

"This is not goodbye, Subaru-kun. This is merely 'until we meet again,'" Seishirou explained. "And we will, I promise. Now let go."

Subaru nodded and reluctantly relinquished his grasp on Seishirou's fur as the larger bat uncurled his wings from around him and spread them wide, propelling himself from his roost, air born.

Opening his own minute ones, Subaru hovered nearby in an attempt to delay the inevitable departure as long as possible.

The two bats wheeled circles around each other in a kind of ritual dance, enjoying the other's company in an amiable silence until finally, Subaru broke out of the spiral to give Seishirou one long, last look as if storing him in memory. Then waving his wing in farewell, the little bat turned and soared back towards the forest where he knew Obaa-chan was waiting for him in the hollow of the tall oak tree.

Seishirou watched the little bat until his form had faded from sight and then he smiled, his pointy teeth bared in a cruel grin.

"Blood so sweet as yours, Subaru-kun, should not be drunk all at once," the vampire bat stated, pursing his lips in fond remembrance of the taste. "Your emotions need to evolve further before I drain your life. Go and grow some more, little fruit bat. Experience true sorrow, grieving anguish, utmost despair and pure hatred. I've marked you as mine and I will find you at my leisure. After all, one does not eat the plum until it is ripe for the plucking."

Snowy petals swirled about the blood-thirsty assassin completely enfolding and obscuring him from view, and when they dispersed, he had disappeared; only the last words he had whispered in secret to the wind were left lingering in the air:

"_So today…I will let you go."_

**The End…**_**for now**_

**A/N: This whole fic idea sprung up after my reading **_**Silverwing**_** by Kenneth Oppel for the first time a few months ago. I fell in love with bats and then went bat-crazy. (You know you're bat crazy when you are looking into getting supplies to build a bat –house to put into your backyard and hope nightly visitors call it home). **

**Right, so originally, I was trying to do a CRACK retelling of Little Red Riding Hood bat-style, however, my muse grabbed the reins from me and wrote its own story, so that I ended up with this semi-fluff, light gothic fic which resembles the story of Tokyo Babylon more. **

**Regarding the absence of sakura in this fic…** **I couldn't use sakura, because the sakura tree has no fruit, so I had to make do with a plum tree with white blossoms. Too bad the sakura doesn't spawn cherries-that would have been useful here. Still I felt it almost blasphemous to have Seishirou in any kind of plot with no sakura—ye gasp! O.o I hope the plum blossoms made for a nice substitute!**

**I based Subaru on fruit bats in general. There a quite a few diverse kinds, however, I could not narrow it down to a specific one. The closest I could get to model Subaru after would be the Greater short-nosed fruit bat in appearance mostly, however most of Subaru's traits can be found in all fruit bats. For Seishirou, I modeled him after the Spectral Bat or False Vampire Bat. Yes, they do, reach up to three feet and eat other mammals, including bats. They do not however merely drink blood; that was for my fic purposes only. More interesting facts about bats: most breeds have up to two pups per year, one at a time though. So the first would be in spring, the second in autumn. So technically, Subaru could have an older sibling here like he did with Hokuto, but they wouldn't be twins. Not all bats live in a big colony. Some live in small groups like Subaru and his grandmother. Also, bats are color-blind, so they wouldn't be able to note things like the other's eye color as they did here. An interesting fact I did not know while researching for this fic: not **_**all**_** bats use echolocation. Bats are categorized in two groups: megabats and microbats. Megabats use their acute sense of hearing, sight, and smell to find food, while microbats' vision are poor and rely on their echolocation to determine their surroundings and hunt prey. Subaru and Seishirou here are both of the megabat variety. **

**So all that aside, what did you think of the story? I hope it didn't bore you anywhere and I hope I made Sei and Sub believable as bats and still true to their character. Did the conversation flow well? Btw, the whole Subaru and Seishirou 'curling up all cute and fuzzy' and Subaru 'swooning' into Seishirou's wings was totally my beta's idea once she got over the shock of reading the strange twisted fic I sent her! XD At the very least I hope the story was entertaining. If it is received well, I may write the next saga in it when inspiration strikes. Do list your favorite parts if you like and if you think I managed to capture the Tokyo Babylon element without it being too cliché. Thank you!**


	2. Part 2

**Disclaimer: **I do not own **Tokyo Babylon, X, or Tsubasa Chronicle**. CLAMP does. I do not own **Silverwing.** Kenneth Oppel does.

**Summary: **A retelling of Tokyo Babylon in an epic proportion. Epic meaning unbelievable. Subaru and Seishirou in the starring roles as bats. Yes, bats.

**The Little Fruit Bat and the Big Bad Vampire Bat**

**Part 2**

Subaru devotedly visited that particular plum tree in the orchard every night upon meeting Seishirou but he never once saw the vampire bat again since their first encounter. The little fruit bat grew dispirited wondering what could have happened to his friend. He hadn't been eaten, had he? He couldn't have, not with his great size and stature and…his wicked set of teeth. Any predator would think twice upon attacking him surely. But what if Seishirou had gotten lost or forgotten the way there? What if he had been injured in a storm and had hurt his wing so he couldn't fly? What if Subaru's character had so thoroughly disgusted Seishirou with his abhorrent, timid weakness that the larger bat was simply avoiding him? It was a thought so utterly disheartening that Subaru stopped going to the plum orchard and instead roosted in the outskirts of the forest nearby to keep a covert vigilance on the meeting place incase Seishirou decided to drop by once he saw the annoying little nuisance who had been looking for him was finally gone. But still, the larger bat did not show up and slowly Subaru began to wonder if he had hallucinated the entire scenario as a result of eating too much plum.

His sister certainly seemed to think so anyway.

Hokuto had flown back into his and their grandmother's life one day as swiftly as she had left it, filling up that bleak gaping hole with bright sunshine as she shrieked happily at being reunited with her family again in her piercing "OHOHOHOHO!" laughter which Subaru had missed more than he realized.

Obaa-chan had seemed displeased that a few months absence on what she believed to be a "soul-searching mission" had not toned down her granddaughter's vibrant and boisterous personality one bit, but Subaru was glad she was safe and hadn't changed and questioned her persistently on the adventures she had had.

"I saw many wondrous things, Subaru!" Hokuto had exclaimed, doing loop-de-loops in mid-air in her excitement. "I saw the human city at night and it looks like a valley decorated with thousands and thousands of twinkling fireflies! I saw a huge tower with a bell that tolled such beautiful music! And I saw the huge, stone bats that guard it! I saw the ocean—a body of water so large and vast, your eyes can not see the end of it! And it moves, Subaru! The ocean moves on its own; not little ripples like in the lake here but in large rolling waves that crash like thunder!"

And while Subaru was staring at her with eyes filled with hero-worship and awe for doing such daring things while the visions of what she described danced vividly across his mind, Hokuto had leaned forward and whispered in a sudden somber and hushed tone so their grandmother couldn't hear, "And Subaru…_I saw the sun."_

Subaru had gasped horrified and could not help but cry softly in dismay, "But Hokuto-chan, that's—_that's forbidden!"_

Hokuto had given a discreet inclination of her head that he should follow her and had taken off and Subaru had no choice but to do so if he wanted answers.

A good enough distance away from Obaa-chan's hearing range, the two fruit bats had settled in a giant fir tree where Subaru could not help but repeat brokenly, "Hokuto-chan, it's forbidden. If you were seen by the owls—"

"Oh, I was seen alright, but I still out-flew them," Hokuto boasted proudly. "And it was worth the risk of getting caught. Oh, Subaru…you have no idea. I can't even describe how…"

Hokuto's voice trailed off as her eyes glazed over, no doubt reliving the spectacular sight in her mind. She gave a tiny shiver of exhilaration as she turned to her brother, her eyes now focused and gleaming wildly and her face twisted in a kind of desperate longing as she breathed, "It was so…bright…so dazzling. It sucks the air right out of your chest—that's how powerful it is. It turns everything golden and it's so warm…so wonderfully warm inside and out…I want to see it again."

The last part was spoken with a quiet, grim determination and Subaru's heart pounded in fear.

"Hokuto-chan, you…you can't—" he said, trying to make her see reason.

"Why can't I?" Hokuto demanded, whirling on him suddenly, anger laced thickly throughout her words. "Why is it wrong for any bat to see the sun? Why must we suffer in this horrible darkness?"

"The War of the Birds and Beasts," Subaru said as if she had forgotten. "We did not take sides and so we were banished to the night. It is our punishment."

"It isn't fair!" Hokuto shouted. "And that was so long ago! How do we know that story's even true? That's what the birds tell us. When have they ever been truthful to us? Owls ate our parents, remember? Even when we have a treaty with them that they won't harm us if we keep to the night where we belong. They break their word all the time and we can do nothing!"

Subaru was silent. He did not like his sister's train of thought at all. It was too rebellious, too dangerous. He was fine living in the darkness. It had never bothered him—he wished Hokuto wasn't so headstrong. Obaa-chan often said the headstrong ones were the most likely to be eaten, given their reckless disregard for rules.

"Subaru, would you like to see the sun too?" Hokuto asked and Subaru looked up at her quickly in alarm.

"N-No!" he burst out terrified. "H-Hokuto-chan, you aren't going to do it again, are you? Please don't!"

Hokuto turned her gaze on the forest floor below and did not offer a reply.

"Please, Hokuto-chan," Subaru pleaded. "You were lucky once but the owls will surely be looking for you now. I don't want to lose you!"

"Will you make me promise to never look at the sun again then?" Hokuto questioned blankly.

Subaru hesitated. He never forced his will upon others and to ask something like that would be so selfish and yet if he didn't…

"Subaru, tell me to never look at the sun again," Hokuto ordered, her emerald eyes wide and glittering sharply as she stared at him as if he alone held the power to keep her from falling to an ill fate. "If you tell me not to do it, I won't. I keep my promises."

"Hokuto-chan," Subaru whispered in a trembling tone, "Don't ever look at the sun again…_please_."

Hokuto lifted her head up to view the numerous stars littered across the night sky and the glowing moon and gazed at them for several seconds as if trying to glimpse some of the radiance she had seen in the sun and finding them pale in comparison.

"I promise," she said softly with a wilting droop of her wings.

Subaru found no relief it her words, just an overwhelming sense of guilt that he had been the cause of denying her something she had loved and vowed never to do so again.

It was an oath that would be tested more quickly and in a way that even he had never imagined.

oOoOoOo

Subaru's first impression of Kakyou was that he rather resembled the sheep that the humans let graze in the meadow. His fur was as white as a spider's egg sac and bunched thickly around him like that of a dandelion spore. His wings and face were an almost translucent pink pigment and his eyes changed colors from red to black depending on the light fluctuation. And he was small. Even smaller than him and Subaru had often been teased by other bats for being runt-sized. He had no colony but lived alone in the rafters of a storage building humans had long since abandoned.

Subaru watched in trepidation as Hokuto slung her right wing across Kakyou's slight figure covering him almost completely and nuzzled her snout into his cheek in affection as she introduced them to each other.

"Subaru, this is Kakyou. He's an albino bat. I met him when I flew in here to take refuge from a storm. He gave me such a fright—I thought he was a ghost! OHOHOHOHO! Kakyou, this is my little brother Subaru I've told you about. Don't we look scarily alike? I wonder if you could one day mistake him for me," Hokuto giggled.

"I could never mistake him for you, Hokuto" Kakyou said seriously in a voice that reminded Subaru of silken strands of a spider's web rasping over a tree's bark. "Your very aura shimmers differently than his. You smell of honeysuckle, pine, the salt of the ocean and the scent of the wind is wrapped all around you."

"OHOHOHOHO! Is that your way of saying you think I'm beautiful?" Hokuto laughed, cuddling closer in her embrace.

Subaru supposed Kakyou could have been blushing but it was really hard to tell underneath the already pink pigment of his skin.

"Ne, ne, Kakyou, what does Subaru smell like? Tell me," Hokuto demanded, still chuckling.

Kakyou fixed his odd-colored red eyes upon Subaru and the little fruit bat couldn't stop a prickle of unease from shooting down his spine as the albino bat's eyes abruptly darkened to black.

"He smells of plum blossoms…and death," Kakyou said.

Subaru's mouth felt suddenly very dry and his chest constricted tightly as if his heart had stopped beating…

"What do you mean, Kakyou-chan?" Hokuto asked, her merriment gone as she looked in concern at her brother. "Is Subaru going to die?"

"Not unless he lets the plum blossoms steal him away," Kakyou stated cryptically before turning to Hokuto and saying imploringly to her, "And you, Hokuto, please do not fall sway to the darkness or your light will be extinguished forever."

It was in that moment, when Hokuto forgot completely about Subaru and saw only Kakyou before her, as if the two were the only bats in existence, as they cuddled and whispered soft sayings and sweet nothings, that Subaru felt the first stirrings of a strange unrecognizable emotion rise from the pits of his stomach and worm and writhe its way up until it flared into a scorching wave across his chest. A feeling like that of a dozen angry ant bites prickling all over his body.

Subaru was unsure of what it was, but it frightened him.

oOoOoOo

Hokuto enjoyed teasing him about Seishirou or as she had begun to call him, "Subaru's Dream Prince Charming". Subaru hadn't told anyone of his meeting with Seishirou that night so long ago, not even Obaa-chan. It had been his cherished secret, something that he had kept locked and hidden away from the world to take out and look at just to marvel at the pretty shininess of it whenever the world seemed too dim, too empty. But like all secrets, it had grown until it had become too large to fit in the cache he had placed it in until it had threatened to explode into nothing and fade away from memory, unless it would be shared with someone. So Subaru had finally let Hokuto in on his secret, wanting another's affirmation that it all had been real.

However, Hokuto seemed to be of the opinion that this "fateful meeting betwixt two fated lovers in the plum blossom tree under the stars" was all a dream stemmed from his subconscious desire to interact sociably—something he rarely did for he was far too shy.

"It's alright, Subaru," Hokuto had laughed at him when he had protested that Seishirou was not some figment of his imagination. "I'm sure you'll meet some dashing, debonair bat like him that will swoop you up in his wings one day, but in the mean time, make sure you take looooooong, snoozy naps so you can visit Sei-chan as much as you want! OHOHOHOHO!"

Subaru refrained from telling her that Seishirou had already "swooped him up in his wings" when he had caught him after he had fainted from eating too much plum. No doubt she'd probably take that the wrong way as he steadily kept ignoring the fact that Seishirou was his "friend" and insisting on labeling him as his _boy_friend. Hokuto embarrassed him at times. Really, he and Seishirou were both males! If Obaa-chan ever overheard her exaggerated tales surrounding them, the old bat would probably drop from her roost and die of shock.

It was on one night after a particularly hard ribbing from Hokuto that Subaru decided to venture to the plum orchard again after a long absence from it. It was there in the boughs of the tree, nestled between the white petals of the blossoms and the purple fruit that the little fruit bat tried in vain to sort out the bundle of emotions twisted in a knot within him that left him so confused.

He didn't understand why he tensed up and felt like gnashing his teeth whenever Hokuto spoke of visiting Kakyou. Indeed, that's where she had gone this very evening. She had offered to take him along, but Subaru had declined. He knew a polite gesture when he saw one. His sister wanted to be alone with the albino bat so he had given her the unspoken wish. He wondered how soon it would be before Hokuto asked Kakyou to be her mate and for them to fly off together to start a colony of their own.

That horrible squeamish feeling in his belly was back tenfold now and Subaru twisted uncomfortably from his roost trying to rid himself of it. But it was no use—the more he thought of Hokuto and Kakyou together, the more intense the slithering sensation felt as if his insides were burning up. He had lost Hokuto for a short while to her adventures and now when he finally had her back, some other bat entered the picture to take her away again. No, not just any other bat—an ugly, sheep-faced bat he wished would disappear!

Subaru gasped at his train of thought and buried himself in his wings in shame. He had no right to think of Kakyou that way. Kayou had made Hokuto happy. Wasn't that good enough? Subaru had taken the sun from her; he would not do the same with her new love.

Now the slithering, squeamish feeling had been replaced with another—as if an icy cold claw had wrapped itself around his gut and was squeezing mercilessly. Subaru shut his eyes and whimpered, wondering what was worse: being assaulted by these cruel, illusive feelings or not knowing what they stood for.

"Good evening, Subaru-kun. It's so nice to see you again," a deep baritone voice said in a lilting purr.

Subaru lifted his head from within his wings to see the familiar figure of a large bat with pointed ears and a horned snout perched in the limb above, smiling down at him with rows of sharp, glistening teeth.

"Seishirou-san!" Subaru cried elatedly, flinging himself from his roost in a manner so swiftly, it left him dizzy. Indeed, his head felt that it was swimming through the sweet sap that often leaked from the maple trees. This feeling…Subaru liked this feeling.

Subaru resisted the insane urge to fling himself snout-first into the larger bat's chest and wrap his wings around him in the same manner that Hokuto had done to Kakyou. Settling closely nearby, Subaru gazed at Seishirou for several seconds and lifted a hesitant wing so that he could touch the larger bat with his fore-claw.

"You're…you're real," he breathed as his fore-claw met the fur of the other.

"Has my Subaru-kun perhaps been thinking that I was a mere dream?" Seishirou inquired, the folds around his golden eyes crinkling up in amusement.

_My Subaru-kun._ Subaru flushed at those words.

"Ah, no," the little fruit bat stammered. "At least not at first. But Hokuto-chan kept saying you were so I guess I—"

"Hokuto-chan?" Seishirou echoed, tilting his head curiously. "Isn't she the sister whom you said left on an adventure?"

"Yes, she's back," Subaru said happily, though he did not tell the larger bat the other things Hokuto had said about him. No need for Seishirou to get embarrassed as well. "She doesn't believe you're real though. She thinks I imagined you."

"You should bring your sister here to meet me then," Seishirou suggested. "I think seeing me with her own eyes would change her mind, don't you agree?"

"She probably won't come. She's busy," Subaru said, shifting his weight from one foot-claw to the other restlessly.

"Busy? With what?" Seishirou questioned.

"Kakyou," Subaru bit out feeling as if he had a mouthful of dirt in his mouth.

Seishirou raised both eyebrows at the little fruit bat's tone and waited expectantly for him to continue. So Subaru found himself explaining how Hokuto had introduced him to the albino bat and the odd feelings that were aroused within him whenever he thought of the two together.

"I don't know what it is, Seishirou-san," Subaru said worriedly. "It feels icky and it hurts…like I've swallowed a whole thorn bush and it's sticking me from the inside tearing through."

"Hmmm, interesting," Seishirou said thoughtfully. "It sounds like you're experiencing jealousy, Subaru-kun."

"Jealousy?" Subaru repeated blinking at him, the word rolling off his tongue foreign.

"Yes, it appears that you have all the symptoms: negative thoughts, insecurity, anxiety, and fear of losing something precious to you. Well, that's what I've heard jealousy described as, Subaru-kun. I've never experienced it myself," Seishirou said, a light smile playing around the corners of his lips.

"I—I'm jealous of Hokuto?" Subaru asked out loud not sure of what that implied.

"Hokuto?" Seishirou said, "or Kakyou?"

Subaru perched in silence, this new revelation unsettling him.

"It is only natural to be jealous, Subaru-kun," Seishirou stated. "You had your sister to yourself for all your life and now someone else has entered the picture and drawn her attention away from you and you feel alone. It can not be helped."

"But I don't like this feeling! I don't want to feel this way!" Subaru cried. "I should be glad that Hokuto's happy!"

"And yet the fact that she is makes you…unhappy?" Seishirou assessed shrewdly.

Subaru wilted visibly and could only nod miserably.

"So strange these emotions; each one connected so closely to the next and leading to different paths depending on which factor rises and falls," Seishirou murmured in such a low voice that Subaru barely caught it.

"Seishirou-san?"

Seishirou looked at him as if fully noticing he was there and beamed at him.

"Subaru-kun is much too cute to be troubled by such petty things," the larger bat said. "He needs a distraction. I wonder if he would like to fly with me."

"Fly with you? We could go flying together?" Subaru asked perking up from his melancholy state of mind.

It had been a desire of his since first meeting Seishirou that one day he would able to fly alongside the larger bat, his wings beating in time for every stroke of the other's in a perfect harmonized rhythm.

Seishirou chuckled deeply within his throat and spread his giant wings, lifting himself into the air with a quick leap from the branch. Subaru followed in his wake, trying to copy his movements and be just as elegant as the larger bat in the way he flew, however his tiny size proved this task difficult and he only succeeded in tumbling head over tail in mid-air from pumping his wings too hastily. The little fruit bat squeaked in dismay as he flapped frantically trying to regain his balance and slammed hard into Seishirou's back. Then rather dazed, Subaru could only wearily clutch at the larger bat's fur so he wouldn't topple to the forest floor below in a very undignified manner.

"Subaru-kun is so forward tonight; I fear my chastity may be at stake. I had no idea little fruit bats could be so bold," Seishirou said, turning his head at an angle so he could view the startled expression on Subaru's face.

"W-w-what?" Subaru stuttered, feeling heat blossom in his cheeks.

Surely Seishirou didn't really think he had tried to take advantage of him? Because if he did, then all of Hokuto's banter would actually be true…

"Subaru-kun is far too fun to tease," Seishirou smirked.

"S-S-Seishirou-san!" was all Subaru could say in his embarrassment, wishing he wasn't so gullible.

"If you wanted to ride on my back, all you needed to do was ask," Seishirou said before quickening his velocity and soaring to a higher altitude than Subaru had ever been.

Subaru could not help but marvel at how close the stars seemed at this height, as if he could reach out and pluck them from the sky and how the fine grey mists that were clouds wisped around them; at how the cool night breeze wafted over them gently and how warm Seishirou's body heat so easily soaked into his own…

"This is why those gifted with flight are scorned and envied, Subaru-kun," Seishirou said. "Everyone desires to be as free as us. Up here there are no worries or troubles. Such things only exist as a plague on the ground below."

"But when I land, those feelings will come back," Subaru said not looking forward to the inevitable.

"I will help you, Subaru-kun," Seishirou promised. "I will cure you of all unwanted emotions."

Subaru didn't ask how Seishirou planned to do this. He just wanted to enjoy the larger bat's company. Sliding off Seishirou's back, he gave another try at keeping his flying pace evenly matched with the other's, drinking in the soothing melancholy of the night.

For the first time in a long while now, Subaru felt at peace.

Then the blissful euphoria was broken by a piercing shriek and Subaru's vision was suddenly filled with the image of great-horned owl plunging towards him, claws outstretched, and he didn't even have time to fling himself clear…

Then Seishirou was in front of him, his form looming large and terrible and spread his wings wide, baring his teeth and hissing threateningly.

The owl was taken by surprise at the appearance of such a monstrous bat—one the same size as him and possessing deadly assets—and halted dead in his dive towards his intended prey.

"There is a treaty, remember owl?" Seishirou said, his golden eyes narrowed into slits. "We bats have the night. You have no call to attack us. Be off, you are breaking the law!"

"I am not breaking it—it has already been broken!" the owl cried indignantly. "I demand justice! Give me that bat! He has seen the sun and thus his life is forfeit!"

Subaru felt as if there was a gigantic boulder weighing heavily in his stomach as he realized the implications of the owl's words and actions. Hokuto…he must have seen Hokuto when she had dared to look upon the sun, and now due to their uncanny similar appearance, he had been mistaken for her.

"Subaru-kun?" Seishirou spoke and genuine surprise was evident on his face as he asked, "Did you really see the sun?"

"I…I…ah," Subaru could only stammer at a loss for what to do.

"I believe you are lying, owl," Seishirou stated, turning back to the adversary. "I think you merely are longing for the taste of bat-flesh. One does grow fond of it…I imagine."

"Insubordinate!" the owl bellowed in fury at being denied what was his. "If you do not hand him over, then your life shall be forfeit as well!"

"I did see it! I did look at the sun!" Subaru exclaimed abruptly. He had to protect Hokuto and Seishirou! His own life didn't matter if it meant losing them.

"You see? He admits his own violation!" the owl hooted triumphantly. "Now stand aside!"

"So he does," Seishirou murmured giving Subaru an inquisitive glance before asking the owl in a dangerously soft tone, "Tell me…were you the only one who saw him look at the sun?"

"No, there were others with me and they too have shared their accounts so there shall be no mistake: the one who broke the sacred law was a fruit bat with fur black as ebony and eyes as green as the treetops—that one who hides behind you! He eluded us once before but no longer! And no bat shall be safe or let rest until the traitor's body is laid out before us prone and lifeless!" the owl swore with a solemn vow.

"Ah, a pity then," Seishirou said lazily. "If it had just been you, it would have made things a lot easier."

Then without warning, the vampire bat lashed out at the owl with bruising force of his wings and as the bird floundered clumsily in the sky, Seishirou seized him in his long, curved foot-claws and drew him in close to clamp down on his neck with one bite of his powerful jaws.

"Y-You!" the owl cried, horror dawning on his face as he seemed to realize something. Flailing his wings futilely against the huge bat and scratching desperately at his eyes with his claws, he choked out, "The blood-thirs—!"

There was a sickening _crack_ and the owl's sentence was abruptly cut off as he slumped over limply then sank down to the earth like a stone where he lay unmoving when Seishirou unfastened his iron-jaws.

"So full of pride and arrogance. Disgusting," Seishirou stated, curling back his lips in distaste and grimacing, exhibiting his now red-stained teeth for the entire world to see.

But that was nothing compared to the crimson river dripping steadily out of his right eye socket, once a magnificent gold, now a bleeding, gouged, hideous wound.

Subaru stared wide-eyed at him, frozen in shock with a myriad of emotions swelling up within him from guilt to fear, the first glimmerings of comprehension starting to appear on his face.

"Ah, Subaru-kun, I'm sorry you had to see that. I hadn't planned for it to come out this way," Seishirou said apologetically, flicking out his tongue at the corner of his mouth to catch some of his own blood that had oozed out of the gaping socket, before sighing almost regretfully. "Still as bland as ever."

"Seishirou-san, y-your eye!" Subaru shouted, dimly realizing that that wasn't what he should be mostly concerned about at the moment, but everything was reeling out of focus and he felt as if a thick fog was enshrouding his senses…a familiar fog…

"_Go to sleep, Subaru-kun," _Seishirou crooned, wrapping his wings around him ever so gently. _"Go to sleep and when you wake up, this will all have been just a nightmare."_

The sky tilted dizzily and his mind was growing fuzzy. He didn't know where he was; he didn't know _who_ he was…but someone was hugging him close to their chest and it was warm, so warm, like the humid summer nights and the scent of plum blossoms lingered all around.

oOoOoOo

Hokuto pumped her wings furiously as she vigorously scoured the skies for any sight of her brother. She had returned to her home in the hollow oak tree after visiting Kakyou to find her distraught grandmother and Subaru missing. It was now only an hour until sunrise. Where could he be? She had to find him before the sun cast its light upon the earth once more. She may have had no qualms about breaking an age-old law, however Subaru was dutifully obedient. If he hadn't come back by now, then he must have been detained or was hurt by something. But where could she possibly start looking? She had been gone for a while and no longer knew her brother's favorite haunts. Wait, that wasn't true. He was forever talking about that plum orchard across the valley and his "friend". Could he have gone there?

Hokuto set out on her new destination, trying to ignore the wave of uneasiness that rushed over her. The night was serene and beautiful; there was nothing that should have made her feel like this. Perhaps it was what Kakyou had said before she had left him that unnerved her.

"_Hokuto, please don't go tonight. Stay here," Kakyou pleaded, his features contorted in anguish. "The darkness has cast its shadow over the night in a suffocating spell. You won't be safe."_

_Hokuto had long grown used to the albino bat speaking in such cryptic riddles and often took delight in trying to unravel their meaning, but even she was at a loss at how to decipher this._

"_Don't be silly, Kakyou, I'll be fine!" she chirped, trying to lighten the mood. "I'll come visit you tomorrow as soon as twilight falls! Then we're going to go exploring outside—even if I have to drag you out of this place myself. There's no reason for you to be such a worm-in-the-hole, OHOHOHO!"_

_But Kakyou had only gazed at her with resigned eyes and said softly, "Yes, Hokuto. I'd like that."_

_Nuzzling his cheek in farewell, Hokuto had whispered into the albino bat's ear, "Ne, Kakyou, do you know what you smell like? Like the scent of fresh morning dew and the soil after a heavy rain."_

_Kakyou was silent as she bid him goodnight and she wondered maybe if he was sulking—an act which would be quite uncharacteristic of him, but as she flew through an opening in the storage shed's roof, she heard his soft voice say quietly behind her, "Goodbye, Hokuto."_

Hokuto, reflecting back on it, pondered why he had sounded so sad. But there was time more time to dwell on it: the plum orchard was in her line of vision now and she hastened her flight. Weaving through the numerous trees laden heavily with fruit, Hokuto cast her sight everywhere, calling her brother's name.

But the one who answered was not Subaru.

"Hokuto-chan, I presume?" came a deep voice from within the top of a nearby tree.

Hokuto whirled in mid-air to scan the trees around her until her eyes finally landed on the sight of a huge, hulking figure of a bat hanging precariously upside-down from a slender branch. Even with his elongated, triangle ears and upturned, horn snout, he could have been labeled as handsome…if not for the gaping, insidious crevice, crusted over with dried blood, which had once held a golden eye to match his intact left one. But that ghastly visage was not what made Hokuto's heart skip a beat in fear.

It was the sight of Subaru enswathed tightly within the other's massive wings, eyes closed and seemingly lifeless.

"Subaru-kun!" she cried, falling in closer but hovering just out of reach of the larger bat. "What have you done to him?!"

"It is not what _I_ have done to him, Hokuto-chan. It is what _you_ have done," the large bat stated coolly.

And suddenly, Hokuto knew who he was.

"You're Seishirou-san, aren't you?" she asked. "Subaru didn't imagine you."

"You should believe your brother more often, Hokuto-chan, especially since you ought to know he doesn't lie…at least, not without good cause," Seishirou said, his sole eye glinting dangerously as it focused on her.

"What…what are your intentions towards my brother?" Hokuto asked warily, hoping the larger bat didn't intend Subaru harm. Subaru had proclaimed he was his friend after all…but she didn't like the look of his friend one bit.

"My goals are far and few and yet too many," Seishirou said elusively. "But for right now, my first and foremost is to keep my promise to Subaru…I will cure him of these abhorrent feelings that cause him so much distress and grief."

"What are you talking about?" Hokuto snapped. She didn't like how he was speaking in riddles…riddles like Kakyou…

"_The darkness has cast its shadow over the night in a suffocating spell."_

Is this what he had meant?

"You are at fault for what has happened, Hokuto-chan," Seishirou said. "Subaru-kun would still be happy, still be safe, if not for your misdemeanors."

"How dare you—"

"The owls are looking for you, Hokuto-chan. They seek your life-blood," Seishirou interrupted, sealing off her words of protest.

Hokuto felt a cold shill spread throughout her body. She knew she had been seen by the owls upon looking at the sun, but stupidly, she thought once she had out-flown them that would be the end of the pursuit. But if they had continued searching relentlessly…and Subaru looked just like her…

"He lied for you, you know," Seishirou said, breaking her out of her reminiscing. "When the owl I killed accused him of looking at the sun, he claimed he did do it. I wonder how it must feel like: to care for another so deeply they'd give up their life for them without a second thought."

"You…you saved him?" Hokuto voiced hoarsely.

"Subaru-kun's life is mine to take, Hokuto-chan. I won't have my prize stolen from me by some feather-brained owl," Seishirou stated, baring his teeth in a sullen scowl. "I will be the only one to taste the sweet, bitter emotions that runs through his veins."

Hokuto started as if a bolt of lightning had hit her.

"The traitorous blood-thirsty assassin!" she exclaimed gazing at the large bat wide-eyed in alarm.

"Traitorous is pushing it a bit too far. I think that title should be presented to you, don't you agree, Hokuto-chan?" Seishirou said smiling, a truly terrifying and atrocious smile. "You've shamelessly endangered your brother's life as well as that of every bat in existence. The owls demand retribution. Are you too much a coward to try and make amends?"

"What…what can I do?" Hokuto uttered bleakly.

"Repent, Hokuto-chan," Seishirou whispered, his remaining golden eye glowing savagely. "Repent and atone for your sins. Offer me your life and I will drink your blood and give your body to the owls as proof that justice has been dealt, and Subaru will be spared."

"From them…but not from you," Hokuto concluded. She had no qualms about giving up her life if it meant saving Subaru's, but she knew that even is she saved him from death at the cruel claws of owls, a darker, more sinister fate awaited him still. "You're going to kill him anyway, aren't you?"

"Yes, but you could give all your time to his rapidly-dwindling supply," Seishirou proposed benevolently. "He has only experienced jealousy and thus has not reached full completion. If I kill you, however, I could postpone his imminent doom for a while longer. I can only imagine how such hatred would explode—how delicious that fruit would taste if let grow into full ripeness, mmm."

The vampire bat's face scrunched up in a pleasant expression as if he was fantasizing about drinking Subaru's blood that very moment. It sickened Hokuto.

"Very well, I accept those terms, but on one condition," Hokuto declared resolutely. "When you drink my blood, I want you to look closely at one emotion in particular called love."

"Love?" Seishirou looked extremely amused by the concept. "You are trying in some valiant way to make me understand it and hoping thusly that I recognize it for what I feel towards your brother, is that it?"

"You care for Subaru, you must," Hokuto insisted. "Otherwise you would have just let the owl have him regardless of your earlier explanation. You wouldn't have made a deal with me to lengthen his life either if you didn't. You would have simply killed us both."

"You assume too much, little fruit bat," Seishirou said. "I know what 'love' is. I've tasted it in others whose blood I've spilled. It's merely a tool—something platonic and breakable. It brings joy and causes pain. It is both beautiful and terrible…and merely enslavement to another. There is nothing further I could possibly glean from such a twisted emotion."

"Think of it as an experiment then, a game. That should suit your _taste_," Hokuto challenged.

Seishirou chuckled eerily, "I'm impressed. You know how to pique my interest. Fine, I conduct your final wish. Think of it as last rites."

Unwrapping his wings, the vampire bat laid the unconscious Subaru in the small crook of the tree where the limb and trunk connected. Then moving faster than Hokuto's eyes could follow, Seishirou was in front of her, a monolithic and menacing figure.

"Prepare yourself," were the spoken words.

Hokuto looked at Subaru, sleeping peacefully, unaware of the danger that he lay enshrouded in. She wished she could see him open his eyes just one more time and to gaze into those eyes—a mirror copy of hers. She wished she could have teased him one more time about his "Dream Prince Charming" and for everything to really have been a dream. She wished she had made her grandmother more proud of her. She wished she could apologize to Kakyou for all the grief she was going to cause him.

_Kakyou, I'm sorry. We won't be able to go exploring tomorrow,_ she thought wistfully. _But you already knew that, didn't you?_

Seishirou struck.

The moon had never seemed as bright as this before…or was it the dawn breaking across the horizon?

Hokuto smiled as she felt the first rays of the morning sun splash across her face just as warmly as she felt her blood splashing down the front of her chest.

She didn't regret looking at the sun at all. She had paid the price. It was just as beautiful and bright as when she first saw it.

oOoOoOo

Subaru shot into full wakefulness screaming his sister's name as an excruciating pain he had never felt before lanced throughout his body like a slender willow branch being pulled taut until at last it snapped in two losing forever its vital connection with its other half.

The little fruit bat's eyes burned and watered at the unnatural brightness they had never before witnessed yet still they were clear enough to catch sight of Hokuto's fragile body as it plummeted to the ground below where it landed at the base of the tree on a bed of white plum blossom petals.

"_H-Hokuto-chan!"_ Subaru shrieked for he had never seen his sister lieso still before; even in her sleep, she was always shifting her roost and stretching out her wings to bash him accidentally in the face.

But Hokuto made no sign that she had heard him and Subaru's focus suddenly turned to the sky as he gradually realized it was the brightest shade of blue he had ever seen in his life mixed with pink and purple smudges across the horizon all stemming from one vibrant circular spot that shone so vividly it seared his retinas—

A towering shadow obstructed his view as it purposefully placed itself in front of the blinding image and a soft voice settled down upon his ears.

"No, you must not look, Subaru-kun. Your sister gave her life for it. To gaze upon such splendor comes with a heavy price."

Seishirou-san was talking to him. Seishirou-san was in front of him, the fur on his chest streaked red with blood that was not his own. Seishirou-san had…

"You know, Subaru-kun, I must confess," Seishirou was saying now, "I am slightly irked by your sister's abrupt intrusion into our little game. I'm afraid her presence made the fruit grow far more quickly than it was supposed to and thus soured the expectant bite. She, however, seemed to be under the amusing impression that it all could be saved by love. Tell me, Subaru-kun, do you think 'love' can sweeten the taste of the bond that I've painstakingly created between us?"

Subaru was silent. His eyes glazing over vacantly…then coming back into focus sharply as a slap across his face by a large wing brought him back to reality with bruising force

"None of that, Subaru-kun," Seishirou hissed, his lone golden eye narrowing with malice. "I will not have you falling into the brink of despair right after I've saved you. I've given my eye for you; your sister has given her life. Your debts have all been called in, little fruit bat. You belong to me now."

"Seishirou-san…" Subaru could only bleat brokenly, his eyes stinging with the brightness of the daylight or the agonizing pain in his heart he did not know. "Why?"

"Why?" Seishirou repeated, laughing at the question—a horrible, hollow kind of laugh. "Because I was bored, Subaru-kun. It seemed like an interesting pastime. I admit, for a while, I sometimes forgot it was all a game and really did enjoy your company. Your naivety proved more than adequately amusing. But that time has passed—I am the blood-thirsty assassin, little fruit bat and I've come to reap my reward."

"Hokuto-chan…" Subaru moaned softly, cradling his wings around himself in an echo of how his sister used to do to him during thunderstorms when he was frightened…something she would never do again.

"I grow tired of this lingering attachment you have to your dearly departed sister, Subaru-kun," Seishirou said. "She is gone from this world and nothing more than an example of how utterly useless feelings serve creatures. They can not save you, these emotions. More often than not, they lead to your downfall. I am fortunate not to be bothered by such follies."

"I…I never meant anything to you, Seishirou-san?" Subaru asked trying to find some sense in his world which had been turned right-side up.

Seishirou smiled at him—a wicked and cruely twisted upturn lift of his lips in which he exhibited the numerous rows of sharp teeth he possessed—and then settled next to the little fruit bat on the limb before speaking.

"You, Subaru-kun, are somewhat of an anomaly," the vampire bat stated, lifting his long curved fore-claw to his mouth as if musing out loud. "Every instinct I have within me cries out for your blood. To sink my fangs into your supple flesh and drink from the red river of your life. To behold every memory you hold dear and taste every emotion that has ever taken root inside you. And yet now, at the very end, I find myself hesitating to do so. I wonder why that is? I'm not so weak-minded to believe it is something as foolish as _love_. Perhaps it is because Subaru-kun is the first creature in a long time to make me truly feel 'alive' and without him around, the world will be as bleak and as boring as before. Do you think this could be the reason, Subaru-kun?"

"Are you going to kill me then?" Subaru asked, answering a question with a question.

"Mmm, I wouldn't put it so crassly, little fruit bat," Seishirou said. "I prefer to think of it as curing the world of the inhabitants who let their emotions override their reason, and that puts me in a bind. You don't appear to have lost your rationale, even at the no-doubt devastating loss of your sister. The only fault you may have is that you are far too trusting, but I think you've learned your lesson at that, haven't you?"

The vampire bat chuckled for a few seconds before continuing, "No creature whose blood I've drank, ever tasted as sweet as yours. I wonder what it would taste like now, tinged with sorrow, betrayal and perhaps hatred. I wonder what it would taste like if left to fester for several years. So, to answer your question, I think I may keep you around for a while longer. You could prove to be a most fascinating distraction from the mundane."

Subaru stared across the plum orchard and the valley to the familiar forest beyond, so strikingly different than at night, yet he was careful to avoid looking up at the sun so at least Hokuto's sacrifice would not be in vain. He wished he was anywhere but beside the larger bat who saw him as nothing more than an amusing game-piece.

"Is my Subaru-kun giving me the silent treatment now for misleading him?" Seishirou inquired in a teasing manner, but the little fruit bat heard the dangerous tone that implied consequences for being ignored.

Through the dazed wanderings of his mind still in shock over his sister's sudden death, Subaru dimly realized that he should let his grandmother and Kakyou know what happened…that Hokuto was never coming back…never going to smile or fill the air with her crazy, annoying laughter…never…never…never…

"And where does Subaru-kun think he is off to so quickly?" said Seishirou's voice through his numbed senses and Subaru noted he had both his wings spread out ready to launch himself from the tree branch before he was seized and dragged backward into the vampire bat's chest as two giant leathery wings folded themselves tightly about him, ensnaring him into his own private prison.

"You are mine, Subaru-kun, to do with whatever I wish, and you may do nothing unless I say you can," Seishirou warned, his hot breath blowing down on the little fruit bat's cheek in their close proximity.

Subaru didn't try and break the hold that the larger bat had on him at first, feeling strangely comforted by another's presence…until he vaguely realized that the fur he was nestled against was coated with a sticky red residence that smelled thickly of copper…and honeysuckle and pine…

Subaru screeched an anguished, angry cry, and struggled to escape from Seishirou's clutches, beating his small wings in desperate, harmless blows down upon him and shouted heartbreakingly, "Hokuto-chan! _You killed Hokuto-chan!_ Hokuto-chan, Hokuto-chan, _Hokuto-chaaaan!!!"_

Seishirou felt the blows fall off him like a bead of dew sliding off a leaf and drew the little fruit bat closer to him in a possessive embrace until his forehead rested against Subaru's, his tongue absent-mindedly licking away the salty tears that trickled down the other's face and thought that they almost tasted as delicious as blood…almost.

Gradually, Subaru stopped his useless struggling and sagged limply against him, his tiny frame racked with grief-stricken trembles.

"Look at me, Subaru-kun," Seishirou demanded and Subaru could do nothing but obey and lift his head weakly.

Seishirou's sole eye glittered with a golden depth full of mystery as he spoke, "Your sister was sure that 'love' would be the savior of this tie we've formed together. Need I remind you that she had absurd romantic notions surrounding the whole idea, but I believe my theory is still the correct one. 'Love' is something needed by those trying to fill a void in their life; by those who are afraid to live in isolation. And yet, whenever 'love' is found, it is forever testing the boundaries of those caught within its web until they no longer are content to settle for its alluring appeal of false happiness and fall to ruin. Tell me, Subaru-kun, are we doomed for the same fate as those lowly creatures? Are we not smarter than that?"

Subaru was silent for several moments before his voice drifted up to the vampire bat's ears in a muffled, low tone, "If that's what love really is…then it's simply a way to avoid loneliness."

Seishirou blinked then chuckled amusedly, burying his horned snout into the nape of Subaru's neck, nostrils flaring wide as the smelled the blood throbbing furiously beneath the soft fur, and he fought back the urge to bury his fangs into the faded twin incisor scars left from his first taste of the small bat.

"My Subaru-kun sees this fallacy also? I am a good teacher then," Seishirou murmured quite pleased. "You will stay with me won't you, Subaru-kun, even though the blood-thirsty assassin can feel no emotions?"

"Every creature is capable of feeling, Seishirou-san," Subaru said wearily. "You just prefer not to. It makes killing that much easier and you enjoy drinking other's blood because their lives are far more intriguing than your own bland one."

The vampire bat's wings tightened considerably around his prey as he hissed into Subaru's ear, "Don't push your luck, little fruit bat. You're on borrowed time, remember? I _own _you."

"I understand, Seishirou-san," Subaru said, closing his once shining emerald eyes which had all but lost their glimmer, and made no move to untangle himself from the other's embrace. "Emotions…cause too much pain."

He couldn't leave even if he wanted to.

There might be no love between them but the nectar that dripped from the illusion was just as sweet.

**The End**

**A/N: I do NOT own the last line of this fic. Oh how I wish I had created it myself. I can't even remember who made it up, I just know I wrote it down in my little notebook because it was so **_**brilliant**_** I didn't want to forget it and it really fit this story well, so I **_**had **_**to put it in! I know I read it from a fanfic though, so whoever originally typed out those words, I give you full credit! I worship you! Ahem, sorry. So, yes, if you are reading this fic are want to be recognized as the owner of that awesome sentence at the end, please tell me so I can give you full dues! Now…**

**I will say I've always wondered how Subaru would react if he knew of Hokuto and Kakyou' s relationship during the TB arc. Obviously, he was very close to sister for his death to affect him so deeply (but I guess that anyone would feel the same way). And I've read fanfics where Subaru sees Hokuto and Seishirou interacting and it makes him fearful and wistful because he admits they would look good together, complete each other and yet he doesn't want to give Seishirou to her and he thinks he is being selfish. But they've never fully tried to delve further into his feelings such as anger and jealousy as if they he could never feel them or they might make him too OOC. **

**Hokuto seeing the sun is a plotline straight out of Silverwing as is the War of the Birds and Beasts and somehow they blend perfectly well into Tokyo Babylon's plot, hehe. Anyway, my beta is currently cheering me for killing Hokuto off while I justify myself doing it because it really is her own fault this time. And where is the spell she wove to protect Subaru from Seishirou lest he 'try to kill him in the same manner he killed' her? I might not have done it here because I think she effectively screwed her brother over in the manga doing that. Poor Subaru, I feel he would have been happier if Seishirou killed him. Her spell just pushed him over into the brink of insanity. So, yeah, I **_**might not**_** have done that, but then again, maybe I did. Maybe it was in her blood that Seishirou drank and now flows through his veins…though I can assure you it won't be the same spell that she uses in the manga (whistles and looks away innocently).**

**Umm, that's it I think. If you're wondering what happens afterward, well, Subaru stays with Seishioru. I like to think of Subaru as a bat blood-donor (sniggers). And I like to think Seishirou who claims he has no emotions was jealous of Hokuto who took up Subaru's attention (he's simply a vamp in deep denial). Although who knows. I might actually be stupid enough to continue it and try to write some warped shortened version of X/1999. (is deafened by readers screams of delight). Maybe. I tell you I seriously had to restrain myself from writing a little epilogue that had a much subdued Subaru stumbling upon three little lost bats, Kotori, Fuuma and Kamui, and giving them a lecture to always be wary of strangers and never trust them. (sobs) Sorry, guys, it just didn't fit the story and broke the mood. The angsty, bitter chocolate mood…I hope you drama freaks are happy! Here! Here's your angst, you humor-haters! Read it and weep! Now, excuse me while I go off and read some nice fluffy crack! Oh yes, please do review and share your favorite scenes and thoughts on the whole.**


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